Thea looked at the bookeeper pityingly and replied, "as of this moment we are the ones fighting for your life, so perhaps you could wait until we have finished risking ours to accuse us? We should get inside."

Thea giggles and said, "For that you must seek the favour and permission of the captain, as the giving or withholding of information is under her domain."She gestured at the door and ushered the bookkeeper in, trying to signal behind his back to Orin to check out what he had been up to.

Orin caught Thea's gesture. He made a comment about staying outside as watch until the others got back. Once everyone else was inside, he went over to the hatch in the deck and quietly opened it, descending below deck. He scanned the surroundings, checking to see if anything was out of place from when he was last down there.

After a short distance, Ephraim rounded a corner and, once out of sight of the figure, rapidly drew a quick series of runic symbols to scan for any eyes or ears, magical or mundane, that might be paying him any attention.

"Wonderful," said the bookkeeper, "More half-truths. I definitely trust all of you now."

Kestrel rubbed her face in her hand. Where to start? She decided to begin with her arrival in the port, the bounty she had selected, and the information broker. The bookkeeper listened, eyes wary. When she had finished, he crossed his arms.

"Well, for all your good intentions, you still have no idea what this 'Akiralta' wants with me. Or you know and you're not telling. I think I'd be better taking my chance out there," he gestured expansively in the general direction of the city.

Orin absent-mindedly began to hum an old dwarvish tune quietly to himself. He glanced idly in the direction of the column of reddened smoke where the ship burned, and from there let his gaze wander across the docks, fiddling with his bow as he did so.

"I'm taking a chance either way. Tell me why I should take it with you?"

Kestrel snapped back at him, "Because we don't actually want you to die. Because you've been pretty bad at hiding so far. But mostly because I'm the one here with the big sword and I'm telling you how it's going to be. I'm sorry your options suck, but what did you expect by defying the Marids?"

"The Marids have been after me for weeks. Intelligence can only take you so far." He stood up abruptly. "I'm going to bed. At least I'll be well-rested if you're walking me to my doom tomorrow."

**

Ephraim heard the city life, diminished at this hour but never gone, pass by. Two men drove a heavily loaded cart down a nearby street towards the docks. A drunk stumbled into the mouth of the street Ephraim was on, looked briefly confused, shook himself and moved on. Someone on the street was snoring, the sound echoing slightly in the narrow corridor. Nothing else happened.